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Wenger backs his ‘birthday boy’ to shine

Lukasz Fabianski could have more than one reason to celebrate on Saturday.

The Arsenal goalkeeper will be between the posts for the FA Cup Semi-Final against Chelsea. And Fabianski’s first trip to Wembley just so happens to coincide with his 24th birthday.

Manuel Almunia will miss the game with an ankle injury but Fabianski may well have got the nod anyway after Arsène Wenger named him as Arsenal’s ‘Cup keeper’ earlier this season. The Pole was in commanding form against Villarreal in midweek and his manager expects him to rise to the occasion again.

“I rate him highly, personally,” said Wenger.

“I think he is intelligent, he reads the game well. He is brave and has all the ingredients to be successful in his position.

“I wish him Happy Birthday in advance and hope it will be a great day for him tomorrow.”

Copyright 2015 The Arsenal Football Club plc. Permission to use quotations from this article is granted subject to appropriate credit being given to www.arsenal.com as the source17 Apr 2009

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